A topology of system may often be characterized as a directed acyclic graph of the elements that compose the system. In other words, the topology of a system may describe the types of elements, or nodes, within the system and connections between the elements, or nodes, within the system. Further, it may often be the case that information regarding the topology of a system may be a subject of inquiry for a user or manager of the system. In such cases, how the topology is represented and stored may affect the speed with which queries about the topology may be answered. Further, the manner in which the topology is represented and stored may determine whether or not some types of queries may be answered at all. Traditionally, adjacency lists have been used in representing various kinds of topologies; however, adjacency list based topology representation may suffer from performance and query restrictions.